I would bet that at some point in your life someone asked you, “Just What on earth do you think you’re doing?” That question usually refers to a specific action, but I wanted to challenge you to reframe that into a much more cosmic question. In the grand scheme of things, what are you doing here on earth? Although our current culture focuses a great deal on how we feel, remember this: Life is not about feeling, it is about DOING.
“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.” (Romans 12: 12-16, NIV)
Paul started this “love chapter” by exhorting us to be living sacrifices, and to follow Christ’s selfless example. In verses 9-11 he talks about the need for sincere love. Here in verses 12-16 he says that DOING love is more important than FEELING love…
He acknowledges that love is a great motivator, and I bet your own personal experience would bear that out. (Think about some of the things you have done because of love—whether foolish things to pursue romantic love, or acts of service inspired by unselfish love… We have all found ourselves doing something differently at some point because of love’s motivational pull.)
The Foolish and the Sublime
Here are two very different examples: The summer I was 15, I was on the aquatics staff at YMCA Camp Flaming Arrow in Kerrville, Texas. Hoping to meet girls on our day off, I put “HI THERE” with adhesive tape on my chest for about a week. You know, that way at Ingram Dam where everyone gathered to swim, I could just point to my chest instead of making introductions…
When I removed the tape, my tan lines said HI THERE all by themselves for at least a couple of weeks. So it WORKED! (True story. Yeah it’s a dumb thing, but I was 15 and it did actually help break the ice with local girls a couple of times. It was, however, a little embarrassing on Parents’ Day at the end of the session, since I was on the aquatics staff and was in the pool working with kids with a chest that said, “HI THERE”…) True story.
(NOT an actual photo)
A few years later, I was on staff at the Navigators’ Eagle Lake Boys’ Camp in Colorado Springs. At the end of the summer, I donated a big portion of my salary to the camp (which, my Dad pointed out, was supposed to be my spending money at college that fall; when he had to replace it, it actually meant that HE had given the money to Eagle Lake. Sorry, Daddy. My heart may have been in the right place, but the net result of my decision fell on you…)
Both of those actions were motivated by love in one form or another—one foolish, and one sublime—but both were done in hopes of having a different outcome than would have been achieved by standing pat. The point is, what are you doing differently today because of love? What outcome are you hoping for?
Paul says here that love will help us overcome adverse circumstances. The circumstances may not change, but Paul says that doing thinks in love creates new possibilities. It enables us to view the world differently: to be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer. I have to say I am ashamed at how often I am NOT patient in affliction or faithful in prayer. How about you?
Doing the Thing that Changes Everything
Love inspires generosity towards others, and it even helps us act differently towards those with whom we disagree. Do you bless those who persecute you, or do you curse them? If we are living sacrifices, Paul says, we will be empathetic and live in harmony with others. Burt Bacharach’s1965 pop song said, “What the world needs now is love, sweet love”… The Beatles said, “Love is all you need.” How true.
One of my best friends in college was a summer missionary in Zambia, Africa. During her term she saw villages ravaged by poverty and malnutrition, and it touched her deeply. When she came back home, she told the director of the Summer Missions program how disturbing it was, how uncomfortable it made her, and asked, “How can God love those little children?”
His answer was surprising: he said, “I hope you are never comfortable again, Kathy, because one of the ways God shares His love is through you.” Yes, God loves the world through his Son and through His Spirit; but as believers who are part of the body of Christ today, He is doing His work on this world through us. What are we doing in this world for heaven’s sake?
There is too much division in our world and in our culture, and not enough blessing; too much selfishness and not enough sacrifice. Paul said a living sacrifice is not stuck up or conceited, but spends time doing loving things, which creates a means for God’s love to reside on earth through us, to us. Be loving today. Make the same decision tomorrow.
Doing Life, Doing Love
Love is not emotion or the giddy way you feel;
It is more than feelings, (although feelings may be real);
Love is more than romance, or the love songs used for wooing:
Love is found in how you do the things that you are doing.
Do them well, and serve as if you worked for God above,
And fill your life with godliness by doing things with love.
To buy my latest book, Real People, Real Christmas: Thirty-one Days Discovering the Hidden Treasures of the Christmas Story, go here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1729034918/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
For Slaying Giants: Thirty Days with David, go here: https://www.amazon.com/Slaying-Giants-Thirty-Devotions-Ordinary/dp/172568327X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1535814431&sr=8-1&keywords=Slaying+Giants%3A+Thirty+Days+With+David
To buy my book, Beggar’s Bread, go here: https://www.amazon.com/Beggars-Bread-Devotions-Ordinary-Guy/dp/1535457392/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1473336800&sr=8-1&keywords=Beggar%27s+Bread
